USS Alliance (1778)

The first USS "Alliance" of the United States Navy was a 36-gun sailing frigate of the American Revolutionary War, notable for having fired the last shot of the war.

Originally named "Hancock", she was laid down in 1777 on the Merrimack River at Amesbury, Massachusetts, by the partners and cousins, William and James K. Hackett, launched on 28 April 1778, and renamed "Alliance" on 29 May 1778 by resolution of the Continental Congress. Her first commanding officer was Capt. Pierre Landais, a former officer of the French Navy who had come to the New World hoping to become a naval counterpart of Lafayette. The frigate's first captain was widely accepted as such in America. Massachusetts made him an honorary citizen and the Continental Congress gave him command of "Alliance", the finest warship built to that date on the western side of the Atlantic.

1779

The new frigate's first assignment was to carry Lafayette back to France to petition the French Court for increased support in the American struggle for independence. Manned by a crew composed largely of British and Irish sailors, "Alliance" departed Boston on 14 January 1779 bound for Brest, France. During the crossing, a plot to seize the ship, involving 38 members of the crew, was uncovered on 2 February before the mutiny could begin. The disloyal sailors were put in irons and the remainder of the voyage, in which the frigate captured two prizes, was peaceful. The ship reached Brest safely on the 6th.

After the marquis and his suite had disembarked, Benjamin Franklin, one of the American commissioners in Paris, ordered her to remain in France despite the fact that Landais' original instructions had called for him to load the frigate with munitions and then to sail promptly for America. Instead, Franklin assigned the frigate to a squadron to be commanded by Captain John Paul Jones.

The squadron departed Groix Roads, near L'Orient, France on 19 June to escort a convoy of merchantmen to Bordeaux and other French ports. During a storm that night, "Alliance" collided with Jones' flagship, - in company with sloop-of-war HMS|Tobago|1777|6.

Still striving to avoid risk to the desperately needed money he was carrying to Congress, Barry again headed southwest to escape from these unidentified strangers and ordered her consort to follow. Far off in that direction, the rigging of another ship appeared over the horizon, sailing away from the others.

Soon "Alliance" was noticeably pulling away from the pursuers but "Duc de Lauzun" - second in line - was losing ground to "Alarm". In the distance, the newcomer was seen to change course and head toward "Alliance". "Alarm" evidently gave up the chase and headed away. "Sybil" pressed on and soon began firing at "Duc de Lauzun".

Confident in both "Alliance's" speed and her fighting ability, Barry maneuvered her between "Sybil" and "Duc De Lauzun" to demand the full attention of the former so that the latter might slip away to safety. "Sybil" then turned her fire toward "Alliance" and managed to send one shot from her bow chaser into the American frigate's cabin, mortally wounding a junior officer and scattering many splinters. Yet Barry held "Alliance's" fire until she was within a "pistol's shot" of her opponent. At that point, a broadside from the American warship opened some 40 minutes of close-in fighting which finally forced "Sybil" to flee in the wake of "Alarm" and "Tobago". Ship's logs indicate that this battle was fought off the coast of Cape Canaveral.

Meanwhile, the Treaty of Paris which ended the war and recognized the independence of the United States had been ratified on 3 February 1783, some five weeks before the battle in which "Alliance" fired the last shot of the American Revolutionary War.

The two American ships again headed home on the day following their brush with the British, 11 March, but separated off Cape Hatteras a week later. On the 19th, "Alliance" met a British ship of the line as she headed in toward the Delaware capes. She gave chase and forced "Alliance" back out to sea. This created a diversion which allowed "Duc De Lauzun" to slip into the Delaware unmolested and ascend the river to Philadelphia.

"Alliance" continued on northward and arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, at midafternoon on 20 March 1783. Since that port could easily be raided by British men-of-war, she soon proceeded up Narragansett Bay and anchored just below Providence. There, her crew was reduced to peacetime needs, and she was thoroughly overhauled.

Ordered to proceed to Chesapeake Bay to take on a cargo of tobacco for shipment to Europe, the frigate got underway on 20 June, but, headed for sea, she struck a rock and was stranded until high tide. Upon floating free, "Alliance" still seemed to be tight and resumed her voyage via the Virginia Capes and the lower Chesapeake Bay to the Rappahannock River. She then moved up that river where she began taking on tobacco. When completely loaded, she headed downstream on 21 August and sailed into the Atlantic three days later.

Soon after the ship entered the open sea, water rose rapidly in her hold. A hasty investigation revealed that a leak had developed where she had struck the rock weeks before. The crew's attempts to stem the influx failed, forcing Barry to head for the Delaware.

Further examination of the ship at Philadelphia ruled out any quick remedy and caused Congress to cancel the voyage. Her tobacco was transferred to other ships and her crew was further reduced to the bare minimum necessary to keep her in reasonably satisfactory condition. When the survey board reported that the necessary repairs would be quite expensive, no funds were available for the task.

1785-1788

It seems that the work was never done before "Alliance" - the last ship left in the Continental Navy - was sold in Philadelphia on 1 August 1785 to John Coburn and a partner named Whitehead. These gentlemen subsequently sold her to Robert Morris who converted the vessel to an East Indiaman. Her new owner - who, as the guiding spirit on naval matters in the Continental Congress and that body's Agent of Marine in the later years of the American struggle for independence, had directed her operations - selected Thomas Read as her master during her first merchant service. That former captain in the Continental Navy took her to China by a new route through the Dutch East Indies and the Solomon Islands. She departed Philadelphia in June 1787 and arrived at Canton on 22 December of that year. While passing through the Carolines on the outward voyage Read found two islands which were not on his chart and named the first - probably Ponape - Morris, and the second, Alliance. At Canton he loaded the ship with tea which he delivered back at Philadelphia on 17 September 1788, ending a record voyage.

After 1788

Apparently, no details of "Alliance's" subsequent career have survived. However, when she was no longer seaworthy, the former frigate was abandoned on the shore of Petty Island across the Delaware from Philadelphia. At low tide, some of her timbers could be seen in the sands there until her remaining hulk was destroyed during dredging operations in 1901.

ource

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a7/alliance-i.htm